Ko$ola: The gathering storm

posted at 11:15 am on June 20, 2006 by Allahpundit

Good stuff, as is Crank’s piece at RedState detailing Armstrong’s stock-pimpin’ shenanigans. It sure looks like candidates are paying him to pull the string on Kos’s back — although why they’d want buzz from a guy who’s as adept at picking political winners as his partner is at picking IPOs, I have no idea. Political contributions from gullible Kossacks, I suppose. Or perhaps it’s a form of protection money: Warner might not end up with Kos’s endorsement, but he’s guaranteed that he won’t have to deal with the nutroots being sicced on him they way they were with his fellow moderate Democrat, Joe Lieberman. He’s not buying buzz, in other words; he’s buying silence.

The problem now is proving that some of the money paid to Armstrong for his “consulting” was transferred to Kos. That would be actual impropriety, as opposed to the mere appearance of it; but all we’ve got so far is one guy doing his co-author a solid by giving his clients a little free publicity.

If this gets more traction as a scandal — and Geraghty notes that some of the Kossacks are starting to ask questions — look for Kos to make a big show of his independence by loudly slamming Warner for some minor offense. Or, perhaps, they’ll set up some kind of retard version of a Chinese wall, where Kos decides he simply won’t comment on any of Armstrong’s clients. Whatever; just enjoy the squirming.

Update: Needless to say, this is all speculation. Not asserting that Kos or Armstrong is guilty of anything.

Still, aside from the Dean case, where Kos definitely took money, and the Warner case, where we have no proof that Kos is getting anything for his shilling, the “Kos-ola” scandal seems misnamed. If there’s undisclosed pay-for-post going on, we have a scandal; otherwise, not so much. The Armstrong SEC thing combined with his blogging for Dean while clandestinely being on his payroll provide two strikes for Armstrong; so far, it’s only one strike for Kos.

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How long before the Federal Election Commission requires “paid advertisement by the ___ campaign”, with a voice intoning “I’m ____, and I approve of this message” on every political blog website? Not hard to believe, especially when money is involved like it is in Kos’ case. Probably others. It’s only a matter of time when the FEC notes the loophole.

All I can say is thank God for McCain-Feingold. Why, no one could ever come up with a way around that fine piece of legislation. We need to support any piece of law that restricts free speech moneyed interests from endorsing a candidate.